Firefighter Sims

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A specially-adapted 'tactile helmet', developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield, could provide fire-fighters operating in challenging conditions with vital clues about their surroundings.
The helmet is fitted with a number of ultrasound sensors that are used to detect the distances between the helmet and nearby walls or other obstacles. These signals are transmitted to vibration pads that are attached to the inside of the helmet, touching the wearer's forehead. Rescue workers, such as fire-fighters, who might be working in dark conditions or in buildings filled with smoke, will be able to use the signals to find walls and other obstacles that could help guide them through unfamiliar environments.

It is anticipated that a lightweight version of the technology could also be useful to people with visual impairments, acting as an additional 'sense' to guide users or to help them avoid hazards.
Invented by a team of researchers at the Sheffield Centre for …

I headed out again this year to Las Vegas for Fire-Rescue Med. I attended last year and found it well worth the trip. I really wanted to go again this year so I made sure I put in my training request early. I recommend EMS Personnel and Narcotics Tampering: Awareness and Prevention, interesting stuff. I saw Randolph Mantooth at the conference last year and am looking forward to seeing him again. Below is a nice interview with the actor by ems1.com about the conference.

In my continuous search for fire simulators, today I came across a German PC game. The game is called Feuerwehr Simulator 2010. Below is the trailer and I went to the website and used Google to translate it. Here are the details of the game:

What Fire fans have been waiting for. The fire simulator 2010 provides for the first time a realistic fire simulation from a first person perspective of the fireman. The development studio VSTEP also stands out for professional fire simulations for firefighters.

Take on the role of one or more men of a fire station. In various scenarios, you have to fight fires or rescue people. Here you have the extensive use your equipment vehicles: tubes / pipes, axes, aerial ladder, breathing apparatus etc.

The following missions are in the simulation:

•Small fire in a locked house
•Burning gas station
•Traffic accident in tunnel
•Train accident
•Save children from a burning building
•Fire on a ship in port
•Truck accident involving hazardous materials, etc…

There are some great interactive site for kids related to firefighters. Here is a list of a few of my favorites.

Scholastic Firefighter Community Clubhttp://teacher.scholastic.com/commclub/firefighter/
You can input up to 25 names and print Junior Firefighter badges for students. There is also an interactive learning quiz and a teacher's guide.
Smokey Bearhttp://www.smokeybear.com
Smokey Bear has his own website. Kids can play action-packed campfire games such as Put Out the Fire and Smokey's Trail Blaze. They will also learn tips for fire prevention and campfire fun.
Sparky's Homepagehttp://www.nfpa.org/sparky/
Kids can tour Sparky the Firedog's website, which is packed with safety-related tips, crafts, and games all especially for kids. Kids will love to hear a real fire bell in the truck photo gallery. There are also instructions on how to make an origami Sparky puppet.Help Sparky get from classroom to playground in a mock fire drill.
U.S. Fire Administration'…

Many departments have a roof prop available at their training grounds, but it is not always convenient to use. It's nice to have something compact available at the station that can be used for practice. The guys are always asking me to help them build something and I have found several sites that have some good pictures and diagrams which can be used to help build your own roof training prop.

Fire Engineering has some good articles with photos. Here are some good links listed below:

I wanted to let everyone know about a new photo site I am working on. I was trying to think of a really great way for firefighters to share their pictures. I am not super high tech yet so I am working on a blog and pulling pictures from across the web that I really like. The new website I am working on is called firefighterphotos.com.

I thought is was a great name and also found a pretty good looking blog template. Right now I am pulling in photos from across the web that allow sharing (creative commons) and posting them. The only problem is that most of the photo sites do not have any stories that relate to the photos. I would really like to be able to get some great stories to also post. If anyone is looking to share some pictures or looking to get some backlinks for their fire blog or department page, send me a line. If you have some picture that you are the owner of just email me and I will post and hook you up with a link on my page to your site. Right now I only would l…

Fire-Rescue International will be held this year at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta from August 23-27. Exhibits will run from August 26-27. FRI is a great way to network with other departments and to find out about new products and technology.

The FRI Expo will be open on Friday from 10:30-17:00 and Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00. This is where you can see new product launches and check out the latest upgrades to current equipment. There will be a Technology Pavilion and a Health and Wellness Pavilion.

Co-located events include the National Society of Executive Fire Officer's annual Leadership Conference on Tuesday the 23rd through Thursday the 25th and the National Association of Hispanic Firefighters (NAHF) annual conference and business meeting which starts on Wednesday the 24th.

A full range of training events are also scheduled during the event. For more information about the expo, training opportunities, and registration go to the FRI 2011 site.